The cure: views of people with HIV

Fred Verdult. Photo © IAS/Ryan Rayburn - Commercialimage.net

The views of people with HIV about what makes a cure desirable must be taken into account during research into possible cures, Dutch research shows.

A total of 458 people with HIV were asked what they found most difficult about living with HIV and what would make a cure desirable. The results of this research were presented at the Towards an HIV Cure symposium at AIDS 2012.

Uncertainty about the future, the fear of infecting others, and the stigma associated with HIV were all rated as highly undesirable factors of life with HIV.

Approximately three-quarters of those surveyed said that they thought a cure for HIV was very important.

But their enthusiasm for a cure declined as levels of uncertainty about its effectiveness and the risk of transmission to others increased.

Almost all the respondents thought that a cure that eradicated HIV with no risk of future transmission of infection was desirable. But only 14% of patients considered a curative treatment that involved the need for regular check-ups to make sure that the virus had been eradicated was a desirable option.

HIV, Stigma and Men Who Have Sex with Men

Michael Kirby. Image by Denis Largeron. ©MSMGF

Another major theme of this year’s conference is the prejudice and discrimination that affects men who have sex with men (MSM) in many parts of the world, and how this is contributing to the spread of HIV in this group.

Law reform for MSM in Africa and the Caribbean was the focus of a meeting of the Global Forum on Men who have Sex with Men (MSM GF) held on the eve of the conference.

A recent study in The Lancet showed that 26% of MSM in studies from the Caribbean were HIV-positive, as were 18% of MSM in research from Africa and 15% of MSM in research carried out in south-east Asia.

The meeting heard that decriminalizing sex between men was an essential first step for creating a safer legal environment for this population.